Apologies for the delay, I’ve been out of sorts and had fallen behind. All caught up now, hope you enjoy xxx
190 – Pyramids in the clouds and a drip feed of chocolate in Milan
Never before have our lives been so revolved around the weather. We have waterproofs and can cope with the rain but it doesn’t make for overly enjoyable scenery. Today I woke at 6am and the mountains were enveloped within the clouds…it was a waiting game for them to lift so we could go on our trek to see the pyramids.
Parco Regionale delle Piramidi di Zone is set high in the mountains (uncomfortably close to snow for Marks liking). They are unlike anything we have ever seen before and are caused by erosion of morainic deposits, which are capped and thus protected by a harder top rock.
Having waited until 11am, we started the walk with clouds intact but were thrilled when they lifted just as we arrived at the site!
It’s a hard walk on rough terrain, and steep both up and down, but what an amazing phenomenon.
Milan
In complete contrast to this, we then drove to Milan, found a parking space next to a dog park on the edge with easy tram links into the centre, and after a mad chuck around with the ropey ball, we pottered off to explore the Isola district. Its known for great food and street art (a lot is on the shop shutters so best to go late or on a Sunday). You can also see the beautiful Bosco Verticale green apartaments, Torre Arcobaleno ceramic tiled landmark and some quality parking 🤣
Walking towards the city centre the Brera district has some wonderful independent clothes shops though I later found out the prices are eyewateringly high.
But not as high as those within the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (beautiful pink embossed quilt Chanel bag…circa £4,500…no santa claus is going to get me that 🤣). The xmas tree is covered in Swarovski, some might say slightly decadent but certainly stunningly effective. Except its next to the Milan Duome…so just as you have picked your jaw up from looking at the tree, you catch a glimpse of the cathedral and it’s seriously impressive.
To fuel our happy wanderings we stumbled upon an amazing chocolate house Zàini Milano. This was the moment I realised my hot chocolate was just pure warm melted rich chocolate….(don’t think about the calories, just drain your cup, enjoy the sugar kick and feel a bit sick by the end 🤣).
The fashionistas amongst you might also want to visit the nearby 10 corso como outlet. I aspire to be better at style but given an epic white dog motif t shirt was €75, and my knowledge it will be covered in real dog paw prints and fur within hours of buying, its neither practical, nor sensible to buy these things. Still it is fun to wander and see what new styles and creations are out there, and I love the shop design layouts.
191 – Cathedral Rooftops and fashion in Milan
My lovely friend Sarah had recently been to Milan and said I must go on the rooftops of the Duomo. She wasn’t wrong, we got the early train in, ignored the rain, took the stairs up and Mark lost me on the roof (he missed a whole section).
It’s an amazing place to wander, and if you can get into one of the cubby turrets you can hide from the other tourists and pretend you’re alone as you gaze over the city.
Next we visited the Duomo Museum and saw a small exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings. The detail in the sculpture is just phenomenal.
Then the day went downhill for Mark, as I suggested heading back to a lovely street we had past the previous night. Thus resulting in over an hour of coat hunting, where the prices scared us, nothing fitted me and my favourite was a burnt orange mens waxed jacket that was huge on me and too small on Mark.
Once home, Mark took the boys out while I crashed out with Mabel and slept for hours, waking intermittently to eat and listen to snippets of an adult dinosaur podcast on audible. I think Mark read a lot and did Duolingo (he is more addicted than me).
192 – Everything on a huge scale: football terraces & art hangers
The rain really does make you linger around indoors much more. I needed a right kick up the arse to get out the door. Such a fetching sight decked out in rain coat, gloves, ear muff and umbrella, with a face that would make my basset look estatic.
As a final stab at getting a new coat I’d researched vintage shops and found Madame Pauline Vintage which got great reviews, so unbeknown to Mark this was our first destination.
Fair play the shop was tiny, but had some treasures! Gold Prada platform brogues in my size…deemed impractical. Seriously any time I looked at anything non coat, Mark reminded me whippet quick…that’s not a coat 🤣 Still the coat gods favoured me and I found a gorgeous Jill Sanders wool coat that fits the bill perfectly, with the added benefit its cheaper and better quality than new.
With that task completed we had celebratory coffee, decided toodling in the rain to see churches wasn’t fun and instead caught the train to Pirelli Hangar – a huge art gallery space. It’s free to enter and I’d highly recommend. Its amazing seeing art given such huge volume of space to reside in. There onsite restaurant was very busy, and serves delicious food, though screams middle class.
Arriving back home, I opted to stay with the pups while Mark went to a football nirvana known as San Siro Stadium to watch AC Milan vs Napoli. A thoroughly enjoyable evening from the highest terraces. Meanwhile I enjoyed some journaling and supervised Mabel ripping all the green fuzz off a tennis ball – anyone else’s dog do this?
193 – Sunshine on the Cote dAzur
My alarm clocks gets switched off on a Sunday, so we woke late and then seemingly wasted an hour or so pondering nothing much.
With 100% rain forecast for all day in Turin I’d found a coffee museum, Egyptian museum and it was the last day of the white truffle festival. Except we didn’t do any of that as Mark suddenly decided he didn’t fancy visiting Turin.
So instead we made great progress driving towards the sun – it’s a barmy 15 degrees; woohoo for double figures again! The Italians were on strike so free toll road, which was a happy surprise. Though the french coastal toll charge machines were still hard at work.
Mark is rather strategic in us arriving in Monoco on a Sunday as all the expensive shops were shut (I’ve still got parades of boutiques to explore in Cannes, St Maxine and St Tropez, though I doubt the prices will encourage my moth purse to open. I’ve been to this neck of the woods so many times, to save my bank card I should stay in the van and let him explore alone…it would be quicker to.
We couldn’t get parked in Monoco, so I drove the van around part of the formula 1 track at a racy 20mph, took a snap of the casino and mega bucks yachts then drove out to a free carpark near Cannes to delight in leftovers and a cake from the local bakery. I’m now catching up on blog entries while waiting for my laundry…living the high life lol
SofaWolves 